1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates in general to electronic devices, and more particularly, to mobile electronic devices, such as a mobile telephone, with an electronic display and a keypad.
2. Background Art
Mobile phones and other electronic devices are very useful for: telephone calls; internet usage; e-mailing; texting; downloading; photography; video conferencing; surfing and searching the world wide web; retrieving, storing and viewing information; social networking; calculating; computing, playing games, etc.
It is desirable for a qwerty keypad to extend from edge to edge for some phone form factors. This maximizes the size of the keypad and makes it as useable as possible.
Dome location, dome seal and keypad retention features on conventional cell phone do no allow the keypad to extend to the edges of the phone for qwerty keypads. While some conventional phones with bell keypads have been able to extend the keypads to the edges of the phone, such conventional phones have only three domes instead of more than 10 domes for a qwerty keypad.
Most electronic devices will fail, short out, or otherwise become ineffective or less effective, upon exposure to too much moisture, such as heavy rain, sleet, snow, or from swimming or being submerged in water, such as accidentally dropping the phone in toilets, puddles, swimming pools, basins or sinks.
Over the years various attempts have been made to seal keypads, keys, buttons and other features of electronic devices. These attempts have met with varying degrees of success. However, most conventional prior sealing designs and systems do not effectively seal and waterproof the side keys of an electronic device. There is a need to waterproof keys and switches of the mobile phones and other electronic devices into the interior of the electronic device so that the electronic device can function and operate in its intended manner when exposed to moisture.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved handheld electronic device which overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems.